Sealed container and cap therefor



Oct. 8, 1929. c. ELLIS 1,730,563

SEALED CONTAINER AND CAP THEREFOR Filed Ap ril'l. 1925 Lanna Exus.

IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Get. 8, ldid taste UlTEl) l l lE CARLETON ELLIS, OF MON'ICLAIR, NE'll JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIS--FOSTER C EANY, A CORPORATION @F NEW JERSEY SEALED CONTAINER AND CAP THEREFOR Application filed April 1, 1925.

mouth of the bottle and sealed with a water insoluble soap.

The hood caps in question have previously been fastened onto milk bottles by means of a wire ring; a means which is open to a num- 5 ber of objections which need not be considered here. In the present invention l em ploy a water insoluble soap such as calcium or magnesium stearate or other analogous metallo-organic compound as a binder substantially free from soluble soap which when softened by heating will quickly set to hold the crimped portion of the hood cap in place and thus seal the bottle.

Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of a bottle carrying a hood cap in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a detail of the hood cap made in accordance with this invention before application to the bottle; and I 0 Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of the hood cap of Figure 2 applied to a bottle.

A hood cap of such a character should have a sealing agent which contains no poisonous substances hence I prefer not to use stearate of lead or of other metals which would be open to question if employed in contact with containers of food products. Hence the calcium and magnesium stearates or mixtures of such stearates are best suited because they are not open to any question with respect to deleterious effect if small amounts should accidentally be consumed. Water insoluble soaps made from aluminum or iron also may be used in some cases. lVhen the product is not required for a food container other sealing agents such as zinc or lead stearate may sometimes beemployed to advantage. It is understood of course that I do not propose to offer the means of evasion of the claims of Serial No. 19,995.

the present patent application due to the possible employment on milk bottles or other food. containers by others of sealing agents containing lead, Zinc, copper or other metals of questionable character but that I do not recoi'nmend these for the purpose and have found that the harmless calcium and mag nosium stearates, particularly the latter may be used advantageously for the purposes of the present invention.

The sealing agent preferably should be light in color to be employed advantageously on a hood cap for milk bottles in order to preserve the suggestion of cleanliness. Waxes such as paraiiin are not well suited for the purpose because of greasy qualities and lack of binding strength. The harder waxes such as carnauba and candelila are generally rather dark in color. In any event bleached wanes of this type are quite expensive. The present invention provides the means for employing sealing agents of any desired melting point and at a low cost.

For the purpose 568 parts of ordinary stearic acid of the double pressed or triple pressed type which is a mixture of stearic and palmitic acids may be heated to between 130 and 150 C. with about 20 parts by weight of magnesium oxide. Reaction sets in and after a half hour to an hour the magnesium oxide will be found largely in combination yielding a product which contains approximately one combining equivalent of the magnesium oxide united to two combined equivalents of the commercial stearic acid. In other words approximately one-half mol of magnesium oxide is employed to one mol of stearic acid. Such a product made from commercial ma terials will be found to melt ordinarily be tween 70 and 80 C. The melting point may be lowered by reducing the proportion of magnesium oxide but if this proceeds too far greasy products open to the objections of paraffin wax will result. If the magnesium oxide is used in large proportion the product will not melt readily. Hence proportions represented by one mol of the fatty acid to live-tenths or six-tenths of a mol of commercial magnesium oxide are appropriate. In employing the connne cial care should be taken that it is not considerably carbonated or if carbonate is present allowance should. be made therefor or the temperature raised sufficiently high to decompose it.

In general I prefer to carry out the reaction of making the magnesium stearate or steampalmitate at a relatively low temperature to avoid discoloring the product or giving it a burnt odor. A product free from odor or having no bad odor which would be transmitted to milk is desired and the magnesium hydrogen stearate if it may be termed. such when prepared at a low temperature that is below 150 O., is almost white in color and free from any objectionable odor.

-By using dolomite lime a mixture of the calcium and magnesium stearates is obtainable. It is understood that such a water insoluble soap may be incorporated with other substances to modify the appearance, strength, odor and the like. For example it is feasible to add say 10 to 20 per cent of carnauba, candelila or montan wax. About 10 per cent of carnauba wax affords a rather fragrant odor when the product is warmed during the capping operation. Other substances are calcium and magnesium resinate, pigments, coloring matters and the like. A small amount of paraffin wax may be added in some cases.

Byv the addition of a harmless white pigment such as china clay or the white titanium pigment known as Titanox, a still whiter ef fect may be obtained. 5 per cent by weight of Titanox is suitable.

On the other hand when some characteristic color is desired as a means of brand identification the magnesium stearate owing to its very light color may be suitably colored with oil soluble dyes to furnish such a characteristic identification mark.

The caps may be treated by coating'and impregnating them with the magnesium stearate as by dipping, spraying or in other ways or the hood caps themselves may be nested to form tall stacks and placed in the same position that they would be on the bottle, that is have the mouth of the cap downward and these stacks drenched with the molten magnesium stearate by allowing the latter to flow downwardly over the stock cascading from the edges of one cap to the next and impregnating the lower part of the hood or skirt with a coating or band of the stearate. After cooling the caps are ready for use, for which purpose they may be placed in a steam heated cylinder which feeds the caps onto the bottles after being filled with milk. The hood cap carrying the heat-softened sea-ling agent then is crimped by a metal crimping tool which squeezes the crimped portion of the cap around the flange at the top or mouth of the bottle and holds it there for a few seconds until the binding agent has congealed. On releasing the crimping tool, the cap will be v glass.

' or less extent.

found firmly in place over the mouth of the bottle.

As shown in the drawing, a container is illustrated for present purposes as a milk bottle A carrying the usual closure disc 13. A hood cap made in accordance with the present invention is generally illustrated in the drawing as having a flat top portion C which fits over the mouth of the bottle and desirably covers the disc 13 the skirt portion of the hood cap extending down around the head of the bottle and being folded below the bead of the bottle as indicated at D. Before application to the bottle the hood cap is desirably in the shape of a ramekin having the flattened portion C and skirt portion depending therefrom the lower edge of which desirably carries the binder composition E the upper portion of the skirt above the binder portion E being desirably left uncoated as shown at F. In the applied position the cap is folded about the bead of the bottle the skirt extending somewhat below the bead and as set forth above these hood caps made in accordance with the present invention are held in place firmly by the binder composition.

By being able to vary the melting point of the stearate by using more or less of the basic material the time of setting may be readily adjusted. While paraffin wax for example sets too slowly and certain other products may have too high a melting point to be readily softened by the steam heat available in the ordinary dairy I have a means at hand by using magnesium stearate of variable composition to adjust its setting time to a nicety. A further point is the matter of adhesion to There is desired for the purpose a slight degree of adhesion but it should not be so great that the binding agent sticks to the glass around the mouth of the bottle after the cap has been stripped off. There is preferred instead a binder which may be termed dehiscent, that is it will adhere to the paper rather than to the glass when the cap is removed. By slightly increasing the proportion of magnesium oxide over one-half me] a desirable degree of dehiscence is secured.

Besides stearic acid in pure or commercial form palmitic acid, oleic acid and other fatty acids or the fats themselves both nati'lral and synthetic may be treated with a base to form the meta-llo organic compound to a greater The melting point will increase with increased degree of combination of the base. Furthermore it is possible to increase the melting point of some of the waxes containing wax acids or esters by fusion with bases at appropriate temperatures.

Therefore in using in the claims the term water insoluble soap I include not only the soaps of the fatty acids but also those derived from any other source, preferably however soaps having a melting point below the boiling point of water but preferably white or at least light in color, preferably tree from any objectionable odor, preferably having dehis-cent qualities and not fouling bottles during the washing operation. Byem ploying a binding agent having some saponitiable constituents the washing operation when cleansing the bottles is much simplified. Further by the use oi a dehiscent binder the likelihood of a: y appreciable amount of said binder remaining on the bot-- tles and getting into the washing apparatus is unlikely.

By the term water resistant used herein in connection with binders for hood caps, is meant binder which when the cap is i1nmersed in water for considerably long; periods oi time, retains its water-resistant properties so that the cap remains intact in its clamped position about a bottle, as compared with binders having a large content of watersoluble soaps, and which do not exhibit such prolonged water-resistant properties upon immersion in water for correspondingly long periods of time.

What ll claim is 1. A paper hood cap carrying a waterresistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing an insoluble soap.

2. A hooded paper cap for milk bottles having crimped sides, carrying a watermesistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing an alkaline earth stearate.

3. A paper hood cap adapted to be bound about a milk bottle, said cap carrying a water-resistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing a' metallo-organic composition which when softened by heating will quickly set to hold the cap in place on the bottle.

4. A paper hood cap adapted to be bound about container, said cap carrying a waterresistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing a mixed stearate and palmitate of an alkaline earth metal.

5. A paper hood cap adapted to be held about a container by a binder, said cap carrying a w'atenresistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and composition containing approximately one-half mol of magnesium oxide to two equivalents of commercial stearic acid.

6. A paper hood cap adapted to be held about a container by a binder, said cap carrying a water-resistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing a fatty acid and an oxide of a metal in combination, the proportion of oxide present being suiiicient to preventthe composition from having greasy characteristics.

7. A paper hood cap adapted to be held about a container by a binder, said cap carrying a Water-resistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing a fatty acid and basic material in at least partial combination, the amount otbasic material present being surii 'ient to give the composition desirable dehiscent properties.

8. A paper hood cap carrying waterresistant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing insoluble soap and a hard wax.

9. A paper hood cap carrying a water-resistant, insoluble soap and a wax whose melting point has been raised by fusion with a base and substantially free from water soluble soap.

10. A milk bottle having a hooded paper cap crimpled around the flange at the mouth of the bottle and sealed with a water-resist-ant binder substantially free from water soluble soap and containing an insoluble soap.

CABLETON ELLIS. 

